Socialist congressional candidate Melat Kiros defeats longtime Rep. Diana DeGette in Colorado Democratic primary in another blow to establishment

Insurgent socialist candidate Melat Kiros defeated longtime Rep.Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) Tuesday in Colorado’s 1st District House primary, marking the latest blow to the establishment wing of the Democratic Party. Kiros came out on top of the incumbent, 49.3% to 43.5%, by the time the Associated Press called the race late Tuesday.

Kiros’s win in the solidly blue district follows a string of victories by socialist and far-left candidates over incumbent and establishment-backed Democrats in New York earlier this month, and it’s expected to tilt the political makeup of the House Democratic caucus even further to the left after the midterm elections. “Now is not the time to gamble and send somebody with no experience to Washington,” DeGette, a 15-term Democrat, pleaded at a candidate forum last week.First elected to the House in 1997, DeGette, 68, has represented the Denver area in Congress longer than Kiros, 29, has been alive. “We need a strong, bold, hardened leader who will hold Trump accountable, and when we win the majority in November, will have real power to move the US to a more just and affordable America … That leader is me,” DeGette argued. DeGette boasted endorsements from Colorado’s Democratic congressional delegation, the House Progressive Caucus, Planned Parenthood Action Fund and several prominent labor unions.  House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) told reporters Monday that DeGette was “forcefully making her case” for re-election while cautioning, “We’ll see what happens.” Jeffries went on to blame President Trump for the “unsettled electoral environment” wreaking havoc on incumbent Democrats, according to CBS News.  With Trump being in office, “It’s not a surprise that there are highly competitive primaries in deep blue parts of the country that are also unfolding this cycle,” the Brooklyn Democrat said. Kiros, an Ethiopia-born Ph.D.student and former attorney backed by socialist Sen.

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